If Beijing can’t quit blaming foreigners for its problems, Hong Kong will forever be the site of foreign contagion

Beijing continues to complain about foreign interference, after a record 2.94 million people voted in the Hong Kong district elections. The notion that ordinary Hongkongers have free will flies in the face of Chinese authoritarianism

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People queue in Tseung Kwan O to vote in the district council elections on November 24. Photo: AFP

Phil C. W. Chan

Phil C.

Published: 6:30am, 4 Dec 2019Updated: 6:42am, 4 Dec 2019

Since imperial times, China has had a problem with foreigners. This is, in part, due to a definition of Chineseness that is at once all-encompassing and narrow, flexible and compulsory.

Chineseness has never been centred around race or ethnicity, despite Han predominance. Instead, it has revolved around loyalty to the powers that be. While Chinese culture as exemplified by China’s self-conception as the Middle Kingdom is Sinocentric and does not accommodate ideas of “barbarians”, the Chinese power structure is synarchic and “barbarians”, such as Manchus during the Qing dynasty and Mongols during the Yuan dynasty, could partake in it.

This may explain why Beijing now defines Chinese patriotism as love for the motherland, socialism and the Communist Party. The humiliation China endured in the 19th and 20th centuries has bred a siege mentality that still holds sway despite China’s rise as a superpower. Beijing’s approach to Hong Kong encapsulates China’s perennial problem with foreigners and self-identification.